Post by Juana Cookie on Jan 8, 2007 12:21:38 GMT -5
The Eagle
I really didn't feel like we had a Christmas this year. It was all so stressful. Family in ill health, friends in ill health, recent deaths of family members, and then, the final blow, the electricity was out for eight hours, from 10:00 in the morning Christmas day, until 6:00 Christmas night. Somehow, it doesn't feel like Christmas, when you're eating bologna sandwiches!
So when my sister called, and said "You're Christmas present is late, I'm sorry, you'll understand, when you read the note with it!", it was "Hey, no biggie...I mean, we really didn't HAVE a Christmas, this year, if you know what I mean!" We were both having a hard time of things. We lost her wonderful husband, Rick, in December of 2005, to cancer. We had lost a cousin, that we both loved, dearly, also to cancer, in November of 2006, and were still trying to wade through the emotional mess, that she left behind her. So Christmas was pretty much a wash, as far as I was concerned. I just didn't feel it, this year.
Then, this morning, the gift arrived.
Inside a big box, surrounded by packing materials, was a smaller box, all wrapped in Christmas paper. And after unwrapping the paper, I had to go through another layer of tape, and packing materials. I thought "this looks like something Rick would have done", and smiled to myself. When finally getting through it all, I found a small statue of an eagle. I knew immediately, it had something to do with Rick.
Rick loved eagles. Several times, when fishing, in Kansas, he would be "visited" by a lone eagle, who must have lived nearby. They seemed to coexist easily with each other. He would carry his camera equipment with him, and took many photographs. He started collecting eagle statues. I thought "what a nice remembrance of him!"
Then I saw the pink slip of paper, and remembered my sister saying something about a note. I opened it up and read it. It talked about how hard finding a present for me had been, this year, as in the past, Rick had always insisted on picking out my presents. We kind of had a "battle of the demented wits", and would send each other playfully insulting gifts. She said, every time she tried to find something for me, she would think of that, and she would see his face. Then, after returning from yet another unsuccessful trip, she noticed Rick's eagles, and decided to send me one, so that "you can love it, the way that he loved you."
Christmas finally came to Woodbine. It came in the shape of an eagle. It came in the love of a brother-in-law, who can still make me laugh, and cry, even over a year, after departing this earth. It came in the generosity of a sister, who knew that this would mean more to me, than anything she could buy. Merry Christmas, everyone!